Ten Seconds
by diva.gonzo
Summary: One shot. Complete. Ron and Harry are on a mission and they confront a nightmare. Rated M for non-domestic violence and harsh language.


**A/N:** Originally published for the Seven Deadly Sins fest at Sinfully-Romione dot Tumble on and on. This is an extension of Ch.1 of the Ron Weasley Chronicles. _\- DG_

* * *

"On the count of three," Harry whispered as loudly as he could without warning the occupants in the flat, "I'll blast the door in and you follow me."

"I know. I made the bloody plan, Harry." Harry gave Ron one really dirty look and Ron reciprocated gladly.

"Wanker."

"Tosser."

Harry took a last deep breath. His hands were shaking slightly, and so was Ron. The mix of adrenaline and crippling fear, charging into the unknown, always gave them the collywobbles.

"One."

They trained for this moment, countless times. They were Aurors, and damn fine ones. They signed on the magical line to do this, to capture those who had eluded them at the Battle. They signed on the line to bring about some normalcy to their world. And Ron signed on the line to quiet the screams at night, when he had nightmares of hearing Hermione be tortured or the fact he was never fast enough to save Lavender from a lifetime of pain.

"Two."

But mostly he signed on the line for the git in front of him. Harry was his best mate and closer to anyone in his life, including Hermione. He loved him like he loved himself, and sometimes even more than he loved himself. The tosser didn't know when to say quit, never backed down from any assignment, never shirked a duty to protect and never held back from rushing to protect and defend others who needed him. Ron promised one night, while completely pissed on whiskey, that he'd never let Harry rush into a situation again without him at his back. The night at the Ministry so many years ago still gnawed at his soul, where he'd been boggled and then in a moment of barmy stupidity, which he always blamed for getting a spell to the head during that fight, giving him the scars on his arms and almost up his neck. He'd let Harry down by getting hurt. It wasn't completely his responsibility, but there was entirely enough to go around.

"Three."

Ron erected the shield charm in front of Harry and Harry performed the spell and the door exploded inward. Harry went in first, avoiding spells blasting towards them. Ron hunkered down and followed, sliding into Harry with a grunt. "The bloody hell!"

Harry stood, behind Ron's shield, and cast a gust of air, blowing away the smoke from the explosion. He ducked down again, dodging two green cast spells aimed at where he had been standing. "I saw three MLS teams down and I think I saw our mole, too. There's some bloke spread-eagle on the back wall and I don't think his head tilts naturally the way it was. But there's two others who were casting spells from the other side of the lorry."

"Was it Avery?"

"I couldn't tell. Mad blokes firing Unforgiveables my way aren't how I envision my demise."

"Yeah, my sister would crucify both of us if I let you kark it on a mission."

"So that's why you're on my arse on every mission."

Ron nodded while Harry peeked past the stack of boxes and ducked back. Two more red spells buzzed by the boxes they were hiding behind. "We have to get those wizards down otherwise they'll burn the building down and with us in it."

Ron pulled the mirror from his pocket, hiding down as far as he could go. "Jones! Jones, answer your damn mirror."

"Jones here," the dark face appeared in Ron's mirror. "Report."

"All MLS teams are down. Potter and I are pinned into position. Building is on fire. Two wizards at least. Advise."

The mirror went dark for one second. Jones appeared back in it, her face grim. "Warrants receded. All Aurors are en route to scene. Hit Wizards are dispatched, eta 3 minutes." Jones put her face up close to the mirror. "Kill or Capture Avery and whomever else is with him. Save those MLS teams at all cost. Authority granted from highest levels."

"Sorted." Ron put the mirror in his pocket. "Jones said warrant receded."

"Damn. I'd hoped to capture the bastard."

The barrels floated up in the air and Harry sprinted away, with Ron following closely. Ron turned while running and blew up the floating boxes in the air, showering them with burning wood. They slid into another stack of boxes 10 meters away, extinguishing the flames that were on the ends of their robes. "Got any ideas?"

Harry cast a bubblehead charm over both of them while Ron peeked up over the boxes and saw a lorry blocking their view. Two sets of boot clad feet rustled on the other side, towards the liftgate and Ron ducked back down. Ron scrubbed his nose while trying to get the smell of burning plastic out of his nostrils.

"Harry!"

"What!"

"Keep me shielded."

"Are you mad?"

Ron grinned. "Quite possibly. Blame Hermione for it."

"What are you going to do?"

Ron pointed his wand at his dragonskin jacket, adding more protection onto the scales. He looked up and Harry gulped. "Knight to C7."

Harry blanched in understanding. "Ron, no. I can't allow it. There's got to be another way."

"The building is one fire and we've got 25 men down. Our lives are forfeit if they die in this fire. Now get my arse out of here before Hermione finds out I did this."

"You're barking!"

"Probably but I owe Hermione and Mr. Brown for this. Lavender too." Ron smirked. "Save my arse when I pull this off."

Harry nodded, obviously unhappy about what was going to happen. "If you don't live through this, I'm going to kill you!"

"I figure you owe me for it." Ron flashed Harry a grin before turning back to the combatants they were facing. "If I don't – tell Hermione I love her."

"I'll save your arse just so I don't have to tell her!"

"Fair enough!"

Ron gripped his wand and apparated away.

Ron gripped his wand, focusing on the spot between the other two on the other side of the lorry, and spun. Gah, he hated apparition. Hated it with a passion but it was the only way to achieve the objective.

He landed in a heap, covered in burnt plastic and ash from the fire immolating the building around them. The bubblehead charm disappeared during the apparition and he fought down the urge to vomit from the stench in the warehouse. Ron wiped his mouth and stopped, seeing a face mere feet in front of him, making the nausea disappear instantly.

Knocked over from Ron's landing was a swarthy wizard, with grey hair tied back from his face. He was older, much older than he remembered but then the Wizard looked up from the box at his feet and froze. Ron knew this bastard. He owed him a blood debt, for what happened to his family. He owed the fucker for what he did to Hermione. He owed this wankstain for every single sleepless night his mum ever had.

"You, you putrid soul, you worthless parasitic lump of dragon dung!" Ron stalked forward, forcing the other wizard backwards. "You disgusting stain on humanity! Not even a Dementor would suck your soul out because you sold it for that piss stain Voldemort." He banished the spell aimed at him with a simple flick of his wand. "I owe you!" Ron roared and threw himself at Antonin Dolohov, using his wand hand balled into a fist to beat Dolohov. He didn't see the dead man's switch fall from his left hand, rolling under the scattering of wooden crates.

They fell backwards into more boxes, with Dolohov groaning at hitting his back at an odd angle. The boxes scattered under the melee, with Ron grabbing Dolohov's hair and bouncing it on the concrete under them. "You killed them," he yelled bludgeoning Dolohov's head into the concrete again and again.

 _Thunk_ "Fabian!"

 _Thunk_ "Gideon!"

 _Thunk_ "Hermione!"

Ron threaded his fingers together, into a mace, and beat Dolohov in the face. "You bastard," he swung and hit Dolohov across the face like a hammer, "you killed them." He hit him twice more across the nose, spraying blood everywhere. "This is for Mum," he yelled. He balled up his fists and hit him across the jaw, using both hands to pulverize the older wizard beneath his swinging fists. "This is for Hermione, you cunt," he screamed, beating him until the Death Eater's eyes rolled into the back of his head. Blood pounded in Ron's ears as he beat the wizard with his fists, ignoring the wands by his hands. She had been in the Hospital wing at Hogwarts a fortnight, taking so many grotty potions it made him sick to think about how close to dying she had come – all because of the sadistic bastard he was going to kill with his bare hands.

A red spell flew by his head and he rolled off of the unconscious wizard before him. He threw a spell at Avery, missing him. Ron ducked and saw Avery fire off a spell, probably trying to blow open Harry's position behind the crates.

"Ron!"

Ron grabbed his wand and pocketed Dolohov's wand and apparated the five meters to Avery's position. He had a second left to make it before he was blown to hell.

Ron landed behind Avery, inside the shadow of the lorry. He saw around the liftgate Harry pointing his wand at his position. Ron reached out and grabbed Avery by the collar of his robes.

Harry fired off the pre-determined spell at the second set of tires on the lorry. They blew, as planned, and threw the truck up into the air. The gas burst from tanks under the compartment of the truck, much to Ron's chagrin. "Must apparate now, Fuck, outside now, outside now," he thought as he focused on the parking lot outside of the building. Intense heat and pressure scorched his skin as he apparated away, with Avery struggling under his hand as they departed the blast. He lurched while being squeezed to oblivion and bounced hard off of something.

"Let go of me, you fucker," Avery growled under Ron's prone body.

"Shut the fuck up or I will beat you unconscious, just like I did with Dolohov."

"He's not dead."

Ron elbowed the older death eater under him, then kneed him in the bollocks. The sod under him rolled his head and puked. His ankle ached horribly but not enough to stop him from kneeing the wizard underneath him a second time. "Can't apparated without a wand, not when I beat him half to death," Ron growled and punched Avery in the jaw. His eyes rolled back up into his head too.

"Ron," Harry yelled. "Ron!"

Ron turned his head and saw Harry running out of the building. The fire was out and Healers in green robes were running into the building.

"I got them," Ron said. "I did it.

"Ron," Harry skidded to a stop a few feet away.

"Harry," Ron's eyes rolled up into his head and crashed off of the unconscious wizard.

"Ron!" Harry ran over to push Ron off of the other wizard and saw his elbow lying across his body at a completely unnatural angle. "Healer! I need a healer now!"


End file.
